Ontario Blood Tracking Workshop

by John Jeanneney

The Canadian Province of Ontario lies just west of the Province of Quebec. The terrain and the big game in the two provinces are quite similar: moose, whitetail deer, black bear and caribou are the principle big game animals hunted. There the similarities end. Quebec has an active program of using tracking dogs to find wounded animals. Ontario has nothing of the kind.

In Quebec the principle language is French, and outfitters had access to tracking ideas and inspiration that came from France. Their tracking dogs, in this case wirehaired dachshunds, came from France and Belgium. A tracking dog handler’s association ACCSQ was founded in 2008 and today it has 240 members. The hunting regulations for big game have been officially “reinterpreted” by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)  and in 2009 ACCSQ handlers found 71 moose, 88 deer and 4 bears. An impressive beginning.

Meanwhile nothing much has been happening in Ontario where leashed tracking dogs have been deemed illegal by most provincial conservation officers. A couple of  tracking workshops for NAVHDA in the 90s, presented  by Hans Klein and myself, did not produce enduring interest. What Ontario seemed to lack was a “Point Man”, someone who could rally the Hunter Lobby (OFAH), hunting clubs and individual hunters to encourage the MNR to change regulations on the use of dogs, in this case leashed tracking dogs. Drawing on the American experience, we have learned that state Fish and Game Departments seldom make a move unless there is evidence of  strong sportsmen support.

Laurel Whistance-Smith of Pontypool, Ontario, was fully aware of these problems when she organized the recent tracking workshop  that took place there. Laurel is a retired biologist of the Ontario MNR, and she is also a long-time breeder of the European type of wirehaired dachshunds. She has not tracked herself, but she has bred a number of fine tracking dogs that are working in the United States. The workshop was to be a small, rather informal gathering of people who have bought dogs from Laurel in the last couple of years. These dogs were sired by our stud dogs, Billy, Joeri and Tommy.

With some doubts in my mind about a long term impact of the workshop I agreed to conduct it on July 17 and 18. Darren Doran, the “Point Man” for New Jersey’s experimental program accompanied me and was tremendously valuable for both his dog and  political experience. On Friday afternoon, the 16^th, we laid out five training/evaluation  lines of about 400 meters for the people we expected to come with partially trained dogs. These lines were to be worked the next morning. Weather predictions were for a very hot Saturday for where we would be working, 20 miles north of Lake Ontario. We wanted to begin the dog work as early as possible, and then use the hottest part of the day for PowerPoint presentations.

On Saturday morning only three dogs and handlers showed up and were available to work the five lines that we had laid out. This was disappointing! However,  I was impressed with the dogs that were present. Scott Leindecker worked his 10-month-old bitch Arwen first. She showed excellent tracking desire and line control. We liked the way she worked her checks with focused intent. She showed that she was ready to find wounded deer as soon as the Ontario MNR gives her the go ahead.

Scott Leindecker and Arwen find the deer skin at the end of the track.

The next dog, Yoda was handled by his owner Ernie Schroeder.  Yoda worked more slowly with somewhat closer check work than Arwen. This is a style that I have grown to appreciate more and more as I get older and older! At 2 ½  Yoda is ready for real work!

Ernie Schroeder and Yoda

Cesar owned by Tom Bunge showed that he was a good dog that had been corrupted by disrespectful grey squirrels. At home frisking squirrels in his back yard had teased him to a frenzy. Once he scented squirrels on his evaluation blood line, it was all over. He could focus on nothing else. There are good ways to de-squirrel a tracking dog, and these were discussed when we finally got to the deer skin at the end of the line.

Tom Bunge and Cesar

Later in the morning Tom worked Cesar on a second, unused line and things went better. It was siesta time for the squirrels and they were no longer laying seductive trails for Caesar. He focused better on the most important thing in the world: blood tracking.

After lunch we moved into Laurel’s spacious garage and examined  the structure and growth of tracking legislation in the United States and Canada. At this point Kerry Coleman joined our group. Kenny is a recently retired biologist from the Ontario MNR who is now on the Governing Board of OFAH. Kerry was enthusiastic about the leashed tracking dog idea and had many concrete ideas about how it could be implemented in Ontario. He believes that more promotion and the foundation of an Ontario tracking organization will be essential. I made it clear that UBT could be very helpful in a future Ontario campaign, and I pointed out what we had done in the United States. The importance of the field experience in neighboring Quebec was recognized, but the provincial  legal structure in Quebec is quite different from that of Ontario. Ontario will not be able to follow the Quebec plan the way Vermont followed the New York plan in 1996.

At this point the workshop really became a meeting, and I could see that the long-awaited point men  for Ontario were emerging. Scott Leindecker, who lives in Sault Ste. Marie, far to the west  near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is an Ontario Provincial Police  officer, who clearly has the drive to hunt, track and promote. He reminded me a bit of Chuck Collier, the Michigan State Police Officer who lives not too far away from him. They both have gifted tracking  dogs, and as we all know,  that helps to keep the fires burning.

Nancy and Scott Leindecker from Sault Ste Marie

Ernie Schroeder was equally impressive. He is a chiropractor who can arrange his schedule to accommodate the things that are important to him ….like hunting and tracking. He has a strong background in hunting dogs  and now he has a very good wirehaired dachshund. He lives close to the political action sites of Toronto and Peterborough, and he is motivated to help the cause.

Tom Bunge has some work to do with his squirrel dog, but he has the great advantage of hunting experience as a forester in his native Germany. Currently he is an engineer with all the electronic media skills to organize hunters in the digital age.

Laurel Whistance-Smith, hostess of the workshop, does not track herself, but she is an excellent organizer and has maintained excellent contacts in the MNR where she worked for twenty years. Clearly Ontario now has what it takes to get a tracking program going.

We wound down on late Saturday afternoon with a mini-course on the grooming of wirehaired dachshunds. Vicki Thomas showed us how to strip down a wire coat so that a sometimes shaggy dog becomes a sleek, well-protected worker, which can slip through the briars and burrs. Vicki Thomas is a well-known show judge and professional groomer. Her practical advice was useful for working dachshund owners even if they never go to a dog show.

Vicki Thomas grooms Arwen

Arwen - before grooming

Arwen - after grooming. Arwen was bred by Laurel Whistance-Smith and she is out of Hexel is a daughter of our Tommy vom Linteler-Forst

Yoda was also bred by Laurel and he is out of Lily and our Joeri vom Nonnenschlag

The Sunday workshop program began at 7AM as we all munched breakfast and I went over  the slides of a practical PowerPoint program on the tricks, trials and tribulations of finding wounded game in the woods with a tracking dog. We concluded at noon. It was an excellent  workshop with little lecture and lots of discussion.

Many thanks to Darren Doran  for all his help including some of the photos above.